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17.462 Innovation in Military Organizations

Spring 2001

An Arrow-2 anti-ballistic missile launches to intercept an incoming target missile as part of a joint test program between the United States and Israel at the Point Mugu Sea Range, CA., on July 29, 2004. (Image courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense.)

Course Highlights

Course Description

Innovations have frequently determined the course of wars. This seminar has three purposes. One, it inquires into the causes of military innovation by examining a number of the most outstanding historical cases. Two, it views military innovations through the lens of organization theory to develop generalizations about the innovation process within militaries. Three, it uses the empirical study of military innovations as a way to examine the strength and credibility of hypotheses that organization theorists have generated about innovation in non-military organizations.